A distilled beverage, spirit, liquor, or hard liquor is an alcoholic beverage produced by distillation of a mixture produced from alcoholic fermentation, such as rum, vodka, tequila, gin, whisky, or brandy. These beverages are aged over a long period of time, generally years to decades, to produce a desired flavor, texture, and/or aroma. Some types of wines are also aged over an extended period of time.
Traditional methods of aging have included leaving the beverages in containers, such as bottles, tanks, or barrels, wherein they undergo a maturing process in which oxygen is allowed to slowly diffuse through the containers and react with the alcohol over several years. As stated, this method of aging is slow and generally requires the allocation of extra funds and labor to create and maintain specialized storage rooms for the containers with specific temperature, humidity, and ventilation requirements. As the containers are generally gas permeable in order to allow air to diffuse through the container, the spirit or wine will diffuse into gaseous form as the concentration of alcohol and water differs from the conditions external to the container. As evaporation occurs, a considerable loss of product is observed over the duration of the aging process.
Certain techniques have been used to accelerate the aging process of spirits and wines, decreasing the amount of product lost compared to traditional means. In other known systems, the alcoholic liquids are subjected, in their vessels, to high-frequency, in particular ultrasonic-frequency, mechanical vibrations. These systems prove difficult to scale up for large vessels, such as casks, because they require a substantial construction effort and use of a great amount of power, yielding high costs.
The present invention provides an apparatus for accelerating the aging of alcoholic liquids, particularly distilled spirits and wines. Through the utilization of magnetic fields, the aging time for alcoholic liquids is significantly reduced while producing the same results as traditional aging processes, which may take years to complete.